Simultaneous tuning of power system stabilizers installed in the VSC-based MTDC networks of large offshore wind farms

Using Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technologies, in a Multi-terminal dc (MTDC) system, has been envisaged as an attractive solution for connecting the large offshore wind farms that have been planned to meet the EU renewable energy targets. The control and operation of VSC-HVDC technologies comprise a number of challenging tasks, aiming to assure an effective integration of MTDC systems in ac transmission systems. Stability studies play a key role within this framework Among them, small signal stability analysis is required. Therefore, in this paper, modal analysis is performed for assessing small signal stability, in terms of the electromechanical modes of oscillation, considering the combined AC-MTDC system. Also, this paper evaluates the interest of installing classical Power Systems Stabilizer (PSS) in the onshore VSC stations for providing additional damping to the electromechanical modes of oscillation. Simultaneous tuning is performed for adjusting the parameters of these PSS based controllers. For this purpose, an optimization based approach exploiting Evolutionary Particle Swarm Optimization (EPSO) is proposed. Modal analysis and time domain simulations are performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed solutions.